New Beginnings :)

Our team usually doesn't start the solar car until the beginning of January because our team participates in the CT BEST and the South's BEST Robotics Competition, but this year we decided to started early because of the success we had in Texas.

We talked about the good and bad about the competition. Also, about what we can do to improve the car, etc. Finally, everyone decided that we should create a totally new solar car, a better, faster, and more efficient one. Especially since we'll be on the road race this coming year. The meeting dispersed with a feeling of excitement and anxiety.

-Skiddles

Football Game

Today the Skiddles team attended a New Britain High School football game, which we raised $150 from donations. At the game we brought the car and set up a table with all our posters and achievements.

Rock Cats

Today we went to the New Britain Rockcats Stadium to fundraiser and to show off the car. We raised about a good hundred dollars. :D It was very fun because the little kids that come get so excited when they see the car, even though they don't know the significance.

Fi-Tech

While many teens are out on beaches and swimming in pools, the NBHS Skiddles Solar Car Team Attended a Fi-Tech Orientation.
Fi-Tech is a program available to the high school students interested in science and technology. The program promotes science, engineering, and technology to future Bill Gates because they are the future. :)
At the orientation, we brought the car over and showed them what we accomplished in four weeks, what we did at the race, etc. Everyone was very impressed! It turned out to be a blast because even thought it was beautiful outside, we were inside talking and showing off the solar car. Everyone enjoyed it, that's the beauty of it, to show everyone how much you learn and how you can have fun at the same time! :)

-Skiddles

Going Home

On the flight home, the team was thinking about a new name for next year. But then we thought, we should keep the name Skiddles because it’s original, and when you say Skiddles, everyone will know its us. :] So we all agreed on keeping Skiddles. Then maybe, when we get another car, we can name it snickers :]

So we finally got back to New Britain at around 6:30. We’re pretty glad the week is over. It’s been a long week. We’ll finally be able to get some rest. The work, the arguments, the sweat, all paid off. J Can’t till next year. Driving from Texas to Colorado. That should be fun.

*The Skiddles team are going to modify the car so we can compete in classic division next year, and design a new car for the open division as well. Then, if we get enough funds we can compete in Australia for the Panasonic Solar Race in October of 2010.

-Skiddles

Day 6

We were all very sad today was the last day. :[ Our car didn’t go as well as we thought it would. One of the solar panels wasn’t charging enough so the car kept slowing down a lot. After a couple of laps we just decided to get off the track so the car could charge a little bit and go for the final finishing lap.

Quyen! Our only Driver.

At the awards ceremony, it was probably the happiest and the saddest moment. We were all happy because we placed SECOND!!!! And sad because tomorrow, we have to leave. :[ Congratulations to Houston team for the first place in Open Division and Classic Division. Good Job. Congratulations to Winston for second place in Classic division.

This is our first year in the competition, and placed second in the open division! Now aren’t you proud of us New Britain?!?And did i mention we received the Guntis Terauds Award!? :]

Skiddles!! & then theres Jonathan :]

Oh yeah, and we got 3rd place on the 100 meter dash. ^_^

- Skiddles

Day 5

Today Josh from the Houston team drove the car for us. Since we only have one driver, Quyen, and she was getting pretty tired. It was pretty cloudy today, so almost all the teams had trouble getting more laps in. We were hoping to get more than just 30 laps in today. But somehow our batteries kept dying even though it said it was fully charged. So we had to get off the track and fix that. All together we made 30 laps in today.

Today, we had the 100 meter dash competition, and the trailer competition. We did the 100 meter dash competition. It went pretty well. We didn’t even think about the trailer competition! Considering the size of our trailer! It’s too small!!! When we had to load it on to the trailer before we left, back in New Britain, it took hours! Next year, we’re going for the trailer competition though. :] When we get a bigger better trailer.

Look at Josh ^^ :] from the Houston Team

-Skiddles

Day 4

So now that we finally passed the general scrutineering, we have a couple more to do today. We’re almost there.

The electrical scrutineering was probably the easiest one! We just had to put some more electrical tape on some open bolts, so when people accidentally touch them, they don’t get shocked. And then were done! :] Next we had the endurance test. That one is where we go around the track once and then on the second lap, we have to fake a emergency stop, and the driver had to get out of the car. Then the rest of the team had to go out to the track and get it with the trailer. We passed that one as well. :] The tilt and turn test didn’t go so well. Since on of our wheels broke the day before, we were scared to do the tilt test (you had to tilt the car 20° and it had to be steady, on both sides!). Then we had to do the turning test. Ehhhh. At first it went too far, then it didn’t go far enough. So then we had to keep adjusting it, and then finally, about the seventh time, it went perfectly. The car turned better on the left side than the right. But we passed. :] Lastly, all we had left was the brake test. That took a quick 20 seconds!
And then…………..we finally got out on the track today!!! Yay! Everyone was just so happy. :] We didn’t have the car ready for the first session, so we raced in the afternoon session. We got in 20 laps. Not bad! :] it was the greatest feeling to finally see the car out on the track. Thank you to everyone that helped us out!! Biolxi, Houston, New York! ^_^ It was awesome! The car probably went 25 mph. At times the driver went so fast, we had to tell her to slow down.

We were supposed to have the 100 meter dash competition today, but since it was so cloudy, the judges delayed it until tomorrow. But we won 3rd place for the car carrying competition! We didn’t think we’d win anything because we dropped it, but wa-la we got a trophy. Never underestimate yourself! This is what you call a perfect day! :]

-Skiddles

Day 3

Today was the first day of racing. Sadly we weren’t able to race today. We haven’t passed all the scrutineering tests yet. So we worked as all the other teams went on the track. Everyone was pretty down. But the people who weren’t racing help us out. We had a lot of trouble with brakes. They needed to be bleed, and that took forever! (Bleeding the brakes is when you need to get all the air bubbles out of the mass cylinders or else the brakes wont work.) Then we connect the solar panels.

FINALLY we tested the car. IT WORKED!!!!!! We nearly screamed our heads off. We were soo happy. All the hard work paid off. The car went around the parking lot a couple of times. We all started making phone calls to everyone else back home. “We did it! It works!” and THEN, the car broke…………………. The driver didn’t want to hit the building so she took a sharp turn. Ehhhh. The left and the back wheel were turned at an angle and got twisted. So, we pushed the car back into the garage and took off the left and the back wheel. Work, heat, sweat. We were tired. When we were finally done putting everything back together, we went to the general scrutineering. We passed. Finally. Maybe, finally, we’ll get to race tomorrow. :]

At the end of the day, we went for the car carrying competition. What were we thinking?!? Our car weighs like 500 pounds!!! We dropped the car after a couple feet. :[

Alicja got tired ;]

Our car <3

-Skiddles

Day 2

We moved the car into the Texas Motor Speedway Garage Today. The track was beautiful. It was a longgg day today. Our main goal was to get pass the general scrutineering today so we can get the car out on the track tomorrow. We met a lot of new people from other states. The other cars were awesome, some great designs. They were all very friendly; they offered to help us out. :]

Sadly....we didnt get pass scruinteering today. :[

The boys working hard.

Dylan hard at work :]

- Skiddles